Twenty leopard skins and 19 otter skins were seized in Siliguri yesterday. This proves that wildlife trade is still thriving from India through Nepal to China and Tibet. The Matigara Police Station (Siliguri) seized it and cases have been registered against Tapan Sarkar, his wife Archana and Prahlad Nirala. Siliguri is becoming a major gateway for smuggling wildlife articles to Nepal from all over the country. The other trade exit points are Dharchula in UP and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. The two big seizures in 1999-2000 in Ghaziabad and Khaga involving more than 100 leopard skins were also headed to this part of the country. All the major seizures of wildlife articles in past two years had leopard and otter skins. Otter skins is used for making warm clothes in Tibet and leopard parts are used for making traditional medicine in China, a market worth around Rs 3,400 crores. ‘‘We had seized 113 kilos of shahtoosh from the railway station recently. That had come from Tibet and leopard parts and otter skins are going from here,’’ said K.N. Thakur, Deputy Director, Northern region. Between 1992 and 1997, 96 leopard skins have been siezed from the area. ‘‘This case has highlighted the need for wildlife crime cell that has been officially set-up at the Centre but is yet to be given enough man-power and resources,’’ said Ashok Kumar from the Wildlife Trust of India.
